Not the Same
by Scarlet Scribe
Summary: When a cherished Mystery Shack employee gets fired and forced to leave, her friends stop at nothing to try and get her back. Even if it takes a little elbow grease, and they might just learn some things along the way as well. Soos/Wendy friendship towards the end.
1. Dispute

The peaceful and quiet work day lagged by slowly as Wendy Corduroy stomped her dirt colored boots on the ground in frustration. With a groan, she tried reasoning with her skin-flint boss currently sitting in front of her for around the hundredth time, not hiding the exasperation in her voice.

"Listen, Mr. Pines, I really am sorry for totaling the golf cart, really! I can pay for the damage; I can even try to pay to have it fixed, but can you please just catch me a break this one time?"

The man in question gave the teenager a deep scowl. "You mean like all the other times I "caught you a break"? Wendy, that cart was the only mode of transportation for leading tour groups, and you destroyed it! By doing, what do you kids call it, da, do…"

"Donuts," the girl corrected with impatience boiling up inside her.

"Yes, exactly that! I'd like to see you even _try_ to pay back for the damage you've done and even add in a new paint job while you're at it," Stan smirked and held his calloused hand out as if awaiting payment.

Wendy rolled her eyes, and, with fake gusto, looked down and stuffed her hands into her jean pockets. After a few seconds of rummaging around, she pulled out a hodgepodge of small items, crumpled up pieces of paper, and stupid knickknacks. She put her hand out and dropped the items onto the desk, watching her boss' expression dutifully.

A button, a guitar-shaped key chain, a crinkled up concert ticket to see _Indie Fuzz_, and a couple of coins occupied the center of the desk. Stan looked unamused and the teenager grinned sheepishly.

"Uh…just wait a second." She put her finger up and reached for the plaid pocket on her shirt. She pulled it open and withdrew a folded green bill, holding it out for her boss to see.

Stan blinked. "Five dollars? Really?"

"Well, I'm sorry I don't have a lot of money, but you don't even pay me for the work I do!" she exclaimed with a roll of her eyes. "This money was from my _dad._ In fact, you don't even pay any of us around here, and it's totally unfair. Soos does the most out of all of us and he gets nothing. Neither do the twins!"

"Don't even bring them into this, missy! The kids are family, so they don't count as ones I have to pay. Plus, the girl would probably go out and buy herself a hundred candy bars if I did, and that wouldn't end very sweet now, would it?" Stan asked as he gave the fuming teen a small knowing smile, but that was immediately thrown from existence as the matter at hand was brought back into play. "The point is, Wendy, that I'm getting tired of your reckless and lazy behavior. If you don't do what you're hired to do and keep breaking things…then I'm afraid that we're going to have to make some arrangements."

The girl was suddenly snapped out of stupor and a sickening feeling entered her stomach. "Arrangements?" she asked with sudden quaver in her normally smooth voice. "Y-you don't mean..?"

"I'm afraid so."

The girl's mindset immediately flipped and she did something very out-of-character. She got down on her knees in front of the desk and put her hands together, a pitiful look spreading across her face.

"Please, please don't fire me, Mr. Pines," she implored with not a hint of languid in her voice. "I _need _this job. It's the only way I can help support my family. My family depends on this job!"

The office was quiet for a few minutes as the decision was pondered over. All the while, the teenager held her breath, hoping and hoping it would not come to anything too rash. She watched Stan's expression cautiously as she did her best to put on a pout.

Stan narrowed his eyes at the teenager, letting out a long sigh. He knew of two people who tried that on him _far too often._

"…I'm sorry, but this can't just go on any longer. I've let you off the hook too many times, and now I think it'd be best if you just leave for a while," Stan finally decided, calmly putting his hands together.

It was like a pile of bricks had suddenly came hurling at her. She released the breath she had been holding for what seemed like minutes and tried to calm her breathing as her boss finished. Jaw dropping, her skin became just a shade paler than it had been before and she put a hand to her mouth in disbelief. She was afraid that if she spoke, she might actually puke. "So, so you're saying, but, but-"

"No buts. I want you to leave my office. Now," Stan said sternly, "I'm going to busy making calls to my banker to try to get this paid off for the rest of the day, now, thanks to you."

Wendy shakily stood up from her position and straightened her body out. She felt hot anger boiling inside her, and instead of becoming paler, her face became as scarlet red as her hair and rage flew across her face.

"You know what? Fine, Mr. Pines. Fire me. See if I care," she said with a sudden change of attitude and turned in her tracks. She began to walk out of the room, fists clenched. Then, she turned back around again to add yet another two cents.

"This was a cheap job, anyway. I'll just leave you to your _money, _'cause you just care about it so much!" She yelled and slammed her name tag down onto the desk. She cursed under her breath and stomped out of the office, trying her best not to break down right then and there.

Stan continued to sit calmly, legs crossed over one another, but there was no doubt that he was feeling something deep down. Instead, trying to ignore the feeling, he just leaned back in the chair and heaved a sigh, putting his hands to his temples.

"That girl just gives me a headache sometimes…" he grumbled to himself as he attempted to soothe his head.

Unbeknownst to Wendy, a pair of brown-eyed twins had been listening to the whole conversation between the old man and the redhead outside of the door, being extra careful not to make any noise. Both their faces were now pale with shock at what had just gone down. Even the normally happy Mabel was at a loss for words.

While the older twin put two sleeved arms to her face and whimpered, the younger twin did his best to keep himself together and awkwardly cleared his throat, searching for the right words to say to his crush after such a harsh event. "W-Wendy?"

The teenage girl did nothing more than turn around, acknowledge their presence, and begin to walk away. She wiped fiercely at her freckled face and both the twins were sure she was beginning to sniffle and snuff, even though she tried her best to mask it with her sleeve.

She tramped away from them and they both heard the gift shop exit open, then slam, causing some merchandise on shelves and racks to rattle around.

The siblings both looked at each other with numbness. Their favorite redhead had actually been fired. Fired as in: gone and never coming back?

Mabel turned to her brother. "Wendy was actually...fired?" she squeaked with panic as she pulled her knees up to her chest and rocked back and forth in a way to calm herself.

"I think so, Mabes," Dipper whispered as he looked off to the side, eyes downcast. It had come as such a shock to see their friend get fired. Imagining working without her there by their side in the Shack was unbearable. She made work fun and enjoyable, almost always finding some good way to go about doing their duties while being her cool and calm self.

While Dipper and Mabel sat trying to come up with a plan to help their redheaded friend, a familiar large figure was shown making its way into the gift shop where they were both sitting. The goofy handyman Soos sauntered in with a dusty broom and tool box in hand. He looked downwards at the twins, and seeing the looks on their faces, became concerned.

"Hey, little dudes, what's wrong?" he asked as he set the box and broom down on the checkout counter. "You guys look like you just witnessed something horrible. Is everything alright?"

They both exchanged glances, mentally discussing who would be the one to break the news to the man. Mabel sighed and looked up at him with gloomy eyes.

"You don't know what happened?" she asked sadly.

"All I know is that the golf cart is wrecked outside…I was gonna go and check it out, but did anything else happen?" he asked again, noting the gloom in her voice. He was completely unaware that their friend had been fired.

"Wendy's fired," Stan stated as he ambled out of his office, holding the girl's ex-name tag. "I had enough of her behavior, so I got rid of her."

Soos looked at him with skepticism and chuckled, an insecure chuckle. He clutched the sides of his stomach in a fit of humor. "You're lying, right? That was funny, Mr. Pines. She's not really fired, heh heh."

The twins looked at him sorrowfully, and not in a fake, playing-a-prank way. In that moment, he knew that Stan was indeed telling the truth. The handyman was speechless all at once.

"Mr. Pines, I can't believe you fired her," he finally said with astonishment, "I mean, I heard she destroyed the cart and all, but why would you even consider doing that?"

"Because she's not reliable, she doesn't do what she's supposed to, and she ruins the business," the old man said as he threw the name tag in a nearby trash can. "Hopefully things will start running a lot smoother with her gone."

All three of them, handyman and twins, looked at Stan with still mounting disbelief. The con man narrowed his eyes and looked about at each of their faces before speaking with undeniable irritation.

"Listen, I know you guys are all heartbroken over this, and trust me, I really didn't do this for the pleasure of firing, but hear me out, and this will work."

They continued to stare.

"I didn't do this to be some kinda demon, if you think I am. It was for the sake of the business and for the sake of us. The girl has a good heart on the inside…I mean, if you look through all that nonsense, but she's not work material," he explained.

"But she was a friend!" Mabel yelled as she crossed her arms. Stan ignored her and before he walked away again, turned to them and gave out one more piece of information.

"It was for the greater good. I'll be putting out some ads for new workers soon."

The spiteful con man left the three of them with a depressing mental image, and neither of them really knew what quite to say. They sure as heck weren't going to sit around and wait for a new employee to show up, but they would try to get their friend employed again no matter what it took. Even if it took a little elbow grease to do it.

"You guys know we have to get Wendy back, right?" Dipper suddenly asked as he looked around at his friends for agreement, pulling the brim of his hat up.

"Of course we gotta, it wouldn't be the same without her!" Mabel exclaimed. "This place would be majorly-cuckoo boring without her! We won't let Stan win this battle against freedom and _liberty_!"

"Yeah!" the males shouted as if they were at a political rally.

"And we don't want anyone else to start working here, right? We want _our _Wendy!" the girl cheered with newly found glee.

"C'mon, guys," Soos nudged the twins up from their sitting position and motioned to the gift shop door, "let's go check out the cart damage. I have a feeling I might know where Wendy is."

Dipper and Mabel both looked at him with hope. He smiled as they began to walk towards the door, on the way to get their friend back.

* * *

Part one of a two-part story. Stay tuned for more soon!


	2. Realization

___You know what? Fine, Mr. Pines. Fire me. See if I care._

The cart wreckage did look a lot worse on closer inspection. There was no easy way to make it sound like it was just a dent, but still Soos walked out into the muggy summer air with the twins in tow close behind him, anxiously peering around for their downtrodden friend to make things right once again. It could already be told right when they turned around the side of the building of how the golf cart had come to suffer such a terrible fate.

From their starting point at the Shack's side, dark tire prints were shown moving out from the golf cart's usual site by the side entrance. The tracks went on straight from there until they stopped in the building's main lot, where much darker tracks split from the single path and went on around in a large round circle, over and over in the earth. From a faraway view, it would look much like a giant doughnut had been plastered onto the ground, a trick another teen might have called the perfect stunt, but for the workers who used the golf cart, not so much. Abruptly, the tire tracks cut off, and that's where all three of the friends gasped, half in astonishment, and half in grief, at the horrible enigma that lay in front of them.

The Mystery Shack's beloved Mystery Cart lay on its side, looking defeated and crumpled in a sad heap. A bit of steam still loomed up from its engine, disappearing into the air and giving off a musty smell. A large towering pine tree close to it proved to be the cause of the crash, a large dent evident in its midsection. The vehicle's small red and orange banners that hung off of its sides were now ripped and frayed; making the machine look like it had been abandoned.

The sight was enough to make the friends gasp a second time, and even question their teenage friend's power to a new extent. Sure she could knock people around a bit and convince people of almost the impossible, not to mention put up a pretty good fight whenever they arm wrestled, but this seemed to be far more than the workings of a teen.

"Ugh, I can still smell the stinky rubber those tires tread," Mabel stated disapprovingly as she pinched her nose with her fingers. "Eww…it's like it's stuck in my nose!"

Soos gaped at the ruptured vehicle, dismissing the girl's complaints. It was one of the few times he was actually at a loss for words, and he was normally a chatty person. The handyman had to put up with a lot of things in his past of repairing damaged and broken-down vehicles, and he knew it, but this was one of the worst cases he had seen. He put his hand to his chin in thought, walking over and kneeling down to check out the damage closer.

Almost immediately, Mabel came up next to him and squatted down, looking at the damage herself and every once in a while emitting an 'mmm-hmm' or 'yep' as she did so. Although she had hardly any idea of what she was talking about, she was content on joining her larger friend with accessing.

"I'd say…this is a 9 on a scale of 1 to wrecked forever," she mumbled as her brother came up next to her and kneeled down as well. Any tourists that had been straying in and out of the building only stared at the damage in wonder, whispering quietly amongst themselves.

"___I wonder how THAT happened…"_

"___How did it get destroyed?"_

"___Probably that one girl who works there…heard she can be a real trouble maker sometimes…"_

The last comment particularly sparked interest in Dipper, but he ignored the urge to turn around and give the group of tourists a piece of his mind, and instead turned back to continue looking at the damage.

"How will this thing ever be fixed?" he asked as he stood up from the ground and dusted the dirt off of his shorts. "It's completely totaled! I hope Grunkle Stan wasn't serious when he fired Wendy and said he was gonna hire a new employee…"

"Bleck, remember the last sap he hired to help keep stock? The guy with all the snake tattoos that were like, literally all over his body?" Mabel said with disgust and scrunched up her nose, "and that piercing in his left nostril?"

Dipper shuddered at the memory. "Ugh, yeah. That guy was creepy. He always asked me if I was late for the rinky dink club when I came into the room and then did a little drumbeat on the counter like he was cracking a joke…whatever happened to that guy anyway?"

"I'm not sure," Mabel responded, "he was here one day, and then gone the next. It was like he just…vanished…" she motioned with her hands and whispered the vanished part eerily for effect.

"I'm with you on that one, dudes," Soos said, agreeing with them, "but hey, I can't see why I can't try to repair the cart myself…" He nodded as he looked at it up and down, gauging it with his brain. "I mean, maybe make some tweaks here and there, replace the tires and… and the whole frame…"

He quieted for a moment, a frown slowly forming on his face. Honestly, he didn't know what to do. The twins both looked at him for support, which sadly, he failed to give. As oppression weighed down on him, he could only twiddle his thumbs nervously and lower his eyes to the ground. "Heh heh, yeah…" he said awkwardly. "Maybe I can't do it…"

"Soos, sorry to say buddy, but I don't think anyone could do it," Mabel said as she put a hand on his beefy arm and gave him a small, sympathetic smile.

"Well, I think that the cart is the least of our problems for now," Dipper announced loudly as his red-haired crush came to mind, "we need to find Wendy to see if she's okay. She seemed pretty upset about Stan blowing off on her. I think she might have been crying too."

"Wait a second, Dipper," Soos said as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder, stopping him as he had already been beginning to walk off in the direction of the forest, "maybe we should give her some time first. To think things over and compose herself, you know? I think if we just barge in on her now, she'll be even more upset."

Dipper looked up at him with a bit of disbelief, but was surprised to find that the handyman might actually have been right. That was something he nor a lot of other people didn't really expect from him. "Soos, you really think so?"

"Trust me, I've been working with her for years, dude. I think I know how she works by now," he affirmed.

"Well, okay," Dipper said, still a bit skeptical. He straightened himself up. "If you're sure."

"Yup, pretty sure," Soos began, "and when the time comes, we'll go out and find her."

"That a guy, Soos," Mabel cheered, "you're nailing it big time! I don't suppose you have any advice for me too? Maybe hidden deep in the very corners of your brain or something like that?"

"Don't even ask her what she wants;" Dipper whispered up into the man's ear and sighed as his sister began to list out a million of her concerns, "just act like you can't hear her."

"You know what you might be good at? Answering people's problems like Karing Kathy from that one ask column in the newspaper!" Mabel yelled suddenly, eyes shining brightly. "I could even help you! Think about it, Soos!"

Soos could only look down at Dipper with a brow raised, this time he not even completely understanding Mabel's odd intention. The boy just shrugged like he was used to it and only answered with one sentence, one of which all of them would remember.

"Mabel likes to read the advice columns from the paper…"

…

"Oh, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad…" Mabel mumbled to herself and hopped back and forth on her feet, alarm breaking out on her face. She pressed an ear back to her uncle's office door, and a sickening feeling entered her stomach as she listened to his and some other guy's conversation on the phone. Even through the thick mahogany door, she could tell exactly what was being discussed between the two men, but at one point she had to strain her ears to listen to the conversation when it became quiet, then all of a sudden amplified. She took her ear away. Stan sounded excited, which was either a bad thing or a good thing.

"___You can work as soon as possible? That's great! No, the pay is 25 cents an hour. You don't like it? Tough! This is a brutal economy we're living in today!"_

___Bad._

Mabel rolled her eyes at her uncle's last comment. Stan always brought the economy into everything, if only to help in his scamming endeavors. Convince the people that he didn't have the time and money to pay them lavishly like they deserved to be, even after spending hours taking gullible light headed tourists' money as they spent it all on useless knick knacks.

"___Huh? Oh, yeah, we had another teen working here. Her name? Wendy. No, she's…not working here anymore. It's a long story…"_

Mabel squeaked in panic as she was snapped out of her thoughts and ran away from the door to go tell her friends of the shocking news she had just found out. She turned the corner of the gift shop and threw the side door open, running as fast as her legs could carry her to her twin and man-friend. She spotted them and stopped next to the golf cart, keeling over and gasping for breath as Dipper and Soos stared at her quizzically.

"Mabel, are you okay?" Dipper asked worriedly as he came to his sister's side and put a hand on her back to steady her.

"I…heard…Stan…the phone…" she gasped out, still trying to mount up the strength to talk again. The running had taken a much larger toll than expected on her small body.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Soos asked as he stopped poking at the broken down cart with his screwdriver and stood up. Mabel finally found the power to talk again and addressed her two friends urgently.

"Guys, I heard Grunkle Stan on the phone in his office," she screeched with fear, "he's already got a guy to take Wendy's place!"

"No, he can't already have a guy!" Dipper yelled, now becoming panicked like his sister, the both of them a pair of fidgety twins. "It's only been, what, half an hour?" He looked down at his wristwatch. "Yeah, just a little while!" He took the side of his sister's arms and pulled her close to his face, so that they were mere inches from touching. "Mabel, are you absolutely sure about this?"

The girl nodded her head forcefully, now proceeding to pull away from him and grab onto Soos' arm like a robot, a true look of sorrow in her eyes. "Soos, do you think we can go find Wendy now? Please? I want her back!"

Soos had to think for a moment. He looked down into Mabel's eyes, then into Dipper's. They both looked so sad and depressed, like a part of them would go missing without her. Something in him couldn't say no to them. Darn it, why did they have to have such an effect on him?

"Okay guys, let's go see if we can find her," he finally said, his decision ending with a sigh as Mabel detached from his arm and ran over to Dipper, squealing happily. Dipper smiled and gave Soos a nudge in the arm.

"So, you said earlier you might have an idea of where she is…so, do you?" he asked the man-child a bit nervously. Soos questioned this at first, but then realized as he looked down at him that the boy was a bit uneasy about going to his crush, and the fact that he wasn't the one who was going to lead them in the first place only made him nervier.

"Yeah, dude," Soos said reassuringly, keeping his feelings in mind, "it's actually out deeper in the woods. I'll show you guys, just be a little quiet."

Dipper nodded, slightly more confident, but then looked back at the Shack. "Will Stan notice if we're gone? I mean, will we get in trouble or anything?"

"Nah, Dipper," Soos replied, waving his concerns away. "It'll be fine. And it won't take that long either. Just trust me."

"Trust level: high!" Mabel yelled loudly, charging her way out into the towering woods. "C'mon guys, let's go! There's no time to waste!"

"Wait up, Hambone!" Soos yelled and he and Dipper both followed after her until they were obscured all the way by the trees and underbrush. All became quiet again as they journeyed into the woods.


	3. Restored

Dipper looked anxiously at his wristwatch as he and Mabel, who was skipping next to him, followed behind Soos. The hike to the special location was almost calm, the woods quiet and still in the brunt of the afternoon. It was a bit surprising, usually since it was always bustling with wildlife and supernatural phenomena, at least in Dipper's mind, but that wasn't really until the night came. During the day if nothing was tampered with, it was peaceful.

"How much further is the spot, Soos?" Mabel piped up from next to him. "My legs are starting to hurt…"

"Just a little while longer…," Soos answered, and they walked closer together as they ventured deeper into the woods.

Questions were brewing in Dipper's mind, but it was hard for him to ask them, and he didn't know why. He couldn't muster up the courage to do so, and for that, he cursed himself for being so nervous when it came to his crush. He tried opening his mouth once, but nothing came out.

"…So Soos, how do you know all these things?" Mabel asked the question her brother was so desperately trying to get out, and he cursed himself again for not being man enough to. "Like, how do you know where Wendy usually goes and how she acts? Is it a worker thing?"

Soos chuckled lightly at the girl's question and looked back at both of the twins. "I guess you could say that, Hambone. I mean, we've known each other for years. I've known her at least since she was a little younger than you guys."

"Wow, really?" Mabel asked with admiration, ignoring now how much her legs ached. "What was she like when she was younger?"

"A lot like she is now, really," the handyman answered. "She was feisty and tomboyish, you know? Not like the other girls who like to play with dolls and such. The only thing I'd have to say was different was that she was a little harder working than she is now."

Dipper laughed wholeheartedly at the image of a smaller Wendy running around the Shack and actually doing her job like she was told to without complaint and filling tourists' orders. It was definitely an image that made Mabel burst into giggles as she imagined it.

"That's funny," she snickered, "little Wendy sounds great! But why do you suppose she got more…you know, lazy when she was older?"

Soos thought for a moment. "Well, I'm not completely sure, dudes, but I think it's just a teenage thing. Hormones and stuff like that. I even went through a phase when I was younger where I didn't care about anyone or anything, it was pretty crazy."

This caused Mabel to burst out laughing harder, and Dipper chuckled. They had never known that before, and to think of their lovable man-friend being, well, not so lovable was even harder to imagine than Wendy working. Well, it was a pretty close tie, at least.

"Wait a second, guys, I think we're here," Soos announced as he put his hands out to his sides to stop the twins from moving on. They both stopped abruptly and looked out in front of them. What they saw made them gasp in unison.

One of the largest pine trees they had ever seen stood tall in a grassy clearing, standing out from all the others. The others trees around it bent over it, much like a canopy, and created a protective, shielding effect. It was complete with small forest flowers and the grass was soft and flowed gently in the wind. It all looked like some young girl's fantasy mindscape.

Mabel beamed at the paradise, marveling at the pretty little flowers that popped up from the ground and plucked one up, sniffing it. "Soos, this place is like a fantasy!" She smiled dreamily as she let herself fall into the soft patch of grass and close her eyes.

"This really is a nice place," Dipper agreed as he looked around, "I'm surprised I've never discovered it before, it seems like something I might stumble into."

"Well, don't get too comfortable, because I think I hear something," Soos whispered and put a finger to his lip, signaling for silence. Mabel slowly sat up from the grass and all three of them strained their ears to listen.

There it was.

Small thumping noises emitted from somewhere close by them, resounding throughout the clearing every few seconds. Afterwards, the crinkling of leaves could be heard, and it would happen all over again.

"I hear that," Mabel whispered. "The thumping. I hear it."

"Me too," Dipper said as he inched close to the largest tree in the clearing, being careful not to make too much noise. They both followed after Soos, tiptoeing around leaves and twigs as he brought them to the beginning of the tree.

"Yep, this is it," the handyman said as he looked up, and the twins did so too in accord. Their eyes widened.

There, on one of the strongest branches high up, sat Wendy with her legs crossed in front of her and a small pile of rocks sitting next to her. She would pick up one of the stones with her hand and then chuck it out into the empty space, hitting the exact same spot on a birch tree far away each time. That's what had been the source of the nefarious thumping noises. It was hard to tell from far away, but it looked as if she was sniffing and mumbling to herself.

"What should we do now?" Mabel asked.

Soos coughed and looked up at the downtrodden teenage girl. "Wendy?"

This seemed to catch the girl's attention, and she sat up from against the base of the tree, looking around for the source of the voice.

He coughed again, and this time the twins both called her name. "Wendy!"

She looked downwards to see her friends all staring up at her, compassionate smiles spread across their faces. It looked as if she rolled her eyes for a moment and let out a sigh, but she then put on a small smile and motioned down to them. Whether it be fake or not, she still greeted them.

"Hi, guys."

Her voice sounded a bit wobbly, but otherwise, didn't break any further. It was silent for a few moments as nothing was exchanged again between the teenager and friends, but Mabel sparked up the conversation, genuinely concerned for the redhead.

"Are you okay, Wendy?" she asked, stepping up closer to the tree.

The teenage girl sighed and looked down, avoiding her gaze. "I gotta admit…I'm not the best right now, Mabes."

Dipper stepped up as well and called up to her a bit timidly. "Do you think you could maybe come down? We-we can talk about it, if you want."

The teenager thought for a moment before begrudgingly climbing down from the tree. She did so with nimbleness, before hopping down from a low branch and onto her feet in front of her friends, so that they were now face-to-face. Upon closer inspection, her eyes seemed red and puffy and her hair was a bit messy. Albeit all of this, she still cracked a small smile at her handyman friend.

"How'd you know where I was?" she asked, leaning against the base of the tree and folding her arms together.

"I know this is where you go a lot when you're upset," he admitted, "I've seen you walk out here a lot, dude."

"Speaking of which...you kind of exploded back there at Stan," Dipper said, but immediately afterwards covered his mouth, his face taking on a flustered appearance. "N-not that we were listening to you the whole time or anything! I mean, we only heard a little, it was just-"

Wendy laughed lightly, interrupting the stuttering boy, but then looked down again with a small frown. "I know I did, Dip. Sorry I kind of just ignored you guys and stomped out of there like that earlier," she apologized, pushing a strand of her scarlet hair behind her ear. "Things just really got to me when it happened. I don't know, it's stupid."

"What's stupid?" Mabel asked with wide, curious eyes.

"Everything. No, I mean, it's just…" The teen found it hard to express her emotion and she sagged to the ground, arms still crossed. "I needed this job."

She looked up to see her friends listening intently. She took this as her cue to go on, and she took a deep breath, plucking up one of the small flowers from the ground and twiddling it between her fingers.

"This job was my only ticket to help support my family," she began, "support them after, well…my mom passed away…" she crushed the flower between her fingers and threw it to the side. "Of course, my dad had his lumberjack business and all, but it didn't bring in all the support my family needed. I was just deemed a lost cause after she died. Just useless. I was pushed away from my dad because I wasn't doing anything to help out."

"But I had to take care of my family one way or another, so I took the mom role."

She looked up to see her friends were still listening and each of them were beginning to sit down close to her.

"Anyway, so I became like the mom to my family of four guys. And then Stan gave me the cashier job back at the Shack, and it made me excited. Excited because I finally wasn't a lost cause anymore. It was pretty sweet. Then when I was fired, I guess it kind of came down on me and everything."

She took a deep breath and looked up, finished with her story. Mabel stood up and came over to her with a small dimpled smile, handing her a bouquet of wild flowers that she had been making. The teenage girl smiled and took them, feeling a lot better after letting out her frustrations.

"Thanks, Mabel," she whispered as she clutched the flowers in her hand. "I guess I just needed to let it all out, is all."

The boy looked at the ground with his hands behind his back, at a loss for what exactly to say. He didn't know that all of that had been going on in her life, and it was a whole different side of Wendy that he had never seen before. He looked up with a small blush and tried to say something comforting to his crush.

"I'm sorry about that, Wendy. It must be hard to deal with." He faltered towards the end, only to get a playful poke in the side from his sister.

Wendy grinned, her wounds mended. "It's alright, dude. You don't need to be sorry. It's just the way my life is." She stood up from the ground and looked at each of her friends. "But thanks for listening, guys."

"We don't mind listening at all, we were just concerned for you, dude." Soos grinned.

"But there actually is some bad news," Mabel interjected, "Grunkle Stan's already been talking to a guy who he's got to replace you! We have to hurry and get you rehired before it's too late!"

Wendy scoffed a little and crossed her arms. "Well, I seriously doubt he's going to do that. I'm pretty sure he was serious when he said I was fired, and I mean for real this time. The guy's really been sticking to his word lately."

The twins both turned to Soos for aid, expressions identically pleading.

Soos thought. He didn't want Wendy to leave as much as the twins did, he really didn't. They had been workers for years; it definitely wouldn't have been the same without her. It would break the twins' hearts.

"You know what, let me take a crack at him," he finally said, smiling, "I think I might be able to butter him up enough to rehire you again."

All smiles broke out across their faces, and Wendy seemed a good shade happier than she was before at the news. In fact, she seemed ecstatic.

"Soos, you would really do that?" she asked with surprise, her voice almost trembling. "T-thanks man! It would mean a lot to me!"

Soos nodded and tipped his hat at her, not even realizing how much he had gotten himself into. "It's what I do, dude."

…

Soos was staying loyal to his word no matter what. Even though he was about as shaky as a chihuahua and could feel sweat beginning to form on his brow, he was going to stay true to his promise, no matter how big it was. So as he stood outside of Stan's office door, wringing his cap in his hands and the sweat now beginning to trickle across his face, he went over what he was going to say to his boss in his head numerously.

Words of encouragement came from behind him, and he turned around and smiled at his friends, who were giving him thumbs up and grins of support. Wendy looked particularly relieved, and he hoped that Stan would have a change of heart more than ever.

_You can do this, Soos._

Taking a deep breath, Soos closed his eyes and knocked on the door once or twice, awaiting a response from his boss. As expected, he could hear some shuffling around and then a gruff response come from the other side of the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Mr. Pines. Soos."

"Oh, uh, come in," Soos heard Stan say. Soos turned the knob to the door and walked cautiously inside, making sure to shut the door behind him. Stan was sitting at his office chair with a pen and notebook in hand. It looked as if he had been writing something, but he set it down on the desk and pushed it away as Soos came up to his desk.

"Oh, Soos. What do you want?" he asked. "You better not be in here to try to talk me into hiring Wendy back, so if you are, you might as well forget it."

Soos gulped. "Actually, sir, I was," he said timidly. "But hear me out, please."

Stan sighed and slapped a hand to his face, leaning back in his chair. "If the twins set you up to this, then you don't have to-"

"But I want to," the handyman interrupted. "Listen, Wendy has been working here for years, and it wouldn't be the same without her if she was gone for good. She's like family, Mr. Pines. I mean, I know she can be lazy sometimes, and not always do her job, and…sometimes break things…"

"I already know all that, Soos," Stan interrupted him. "What's the point of point of this?"

"Well, the point is that…" Another round of sweat began to break out on his face, and for a moment the man-child was at a loss for words.

"The point is…" Stan motioned for him to continue, and he swallowed thickly.

"The point is, Mr. Pines, that she all holds a special place in our hearts. I know you're mad at her right now and believe that firing her is the right thing…"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the door was cracked open just slightly, and a pair of eyes was staring at him, waiting for him to continue on with his little speech. This motivated him and he began again.

"…but I think you'll realize that it's a big mistake doing what you're doing, and when you do realize, it'll be too late." He looked to see that his boss seemed off somewhere in his mind, but he took the opportunity to add something else.

"Think about the first time you hired her. She was a scared, lonely girl before she was. Think about how happy she was then when she got the job. I know you're thinking about it, Mr. Pines. So pretty much what I'm saying is…"

He looked over to the door, where the eyes were still staring, boring into him, and he gave one of the nicest smiles he could muster. "...a little part of this place will be gone without her, and I think if you do rehire her, she'll start to be a little better about doing her job. In fact, I'm sure of it."

Stan still seemed to be lost in thought when he sat up in his chair again. Soos waited for an answer as he placed his cap back on his head. After what seemed like an eternity, Stan spoke again. And this time he didn't sound as upset.

"You know Soos, I didn't actually expect you to spew something big like that, and it actually got me thinking." Stan sighed and looked off to the side, a grimace beginning to form on his lips, but to Soos' surprise he didn't really seem all that upset, just…disappointed. "As much as I hate to say it, you are right. You know what?" He exhaled and stood up sharply. "She can come back if she really wants to. But if she does I expect her to start working a little harder around here. Double the work she usually does and more."

A full-out grin broke out on Soos' face, and cheering sounded from the other side of the door. "T-thank you Mr. Pines!"

"Yeah, yeah," Stan waved him away, "but it looks like I'm going to have to call back a potential guy to tell him she's back…ain't gonna be easy."

Soos nodded and left the room where he was attacked by a shower of hugs. Mabel and Dipper were clasping onto him tightly.

"Soos, you got her back!" Mabel cheered happily like a little kid and pulled away from him, now hugging her brother, who was cheering and yelling for him as well. The said redhead was standing in a paralyzed stance, still not believing her ears and eyes at what she had just witnessed.

"Uh, dude?" Soos asked as he shook her gently, then gasped as he felt her jump back and wrap her arms around him. She nearly had to get on her tiptoes to wrap them all the way around his large frame.

"Thank you so much," she whispered, "for everything."

Soos hugged her back, chuckling. "Anytime, dude."

The teenager then pulled away and slugged him in the arm playfully. She turned and high-fived the twins, who were still celebrating. "Hey guys, how's about we go out into the town and celebrate more, eh? I'm thinking we could hit the park. Maybe grab an ice cream or something?"

"Wait a second, missy!" All three of them froze as they heard Stan shout from inside of his office. "You think I'm letting you off the hook _that_ easily? Well you must not know me that well!" The old man moseyed out of his office and pointed to the gift shop door.

"Yeah, Mr. Pines?" she asked uneasily.

"Before you go out and do anything more, I want you to go out and collect all the scrap metal and destroyed parts from the golf cart and get it out of my lot! Now! Oh, and, uh, your name tag's in the trash can."

Instead of whining, she only smiled, and then looked at each of her friends.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Pines."

* * *

EDIT: I decided to split this into three chapters instead of two, since the second one all together was way too much to read in one chapter (I thought so, at least). I hope I've made it look more manageable to read now that it's split. I've also changed a couple of things around, but not anything major, so you don't have to worry.

Thank you guys for reading and reviewing!

Now, the origin behind this fic: I really like the whole Soos/Wendy friendship idea, although I haven't seen fics about it around too much. In my eyes, I like to see their relationship as a really close friend type of thing, where they both care about each other and look out for each other, kind of like in a big brother/little sister type way. The reason they're so close is because of how long they have been working with each other, so the relationship kind of just built up over the years they had been with each other until boom: they're where they're at now.

I have more, but enough with my stupid headcanons, haha. I'm pooped. Happy holidays to everyone!


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